Deutsche Telekom announced yesterday that T-Mobile would begin selling Apple devices next year. T-Mobile CEO John Legere went on to confirm that the iPhone would be among the Apple products the wireless company will sell next year. However, he is warning that T-Mobile will offer the iPhone in a drastically different way than other carriers. T-Mobile is ending subsidies on all of its phones.

What that means is if you want the iPhone on the T-Mobile network, you'll pay for the entire purchase price of the phone upfront rather than getting a discount in exchange for signing up for a contract. T-Mobile is planning to shift to unsubsidized Value Plans offering customers cheaper rates for voice and data.

T-Mobile has already stated that 80% of the activations it had last quarter were customers choosing its new Value Plans. The plans are so successful that T-Mobile believes there's a huge demand for the pay up front and get a discounted plan sales model.

It remains to be seen if T-Mobile customers are willing to pay full price for the iPhone when other carriers are offering them a significant discounts.

Pricing for the iPhone ranges between $650 to $850 for unlocked devices. However, it appears that T-Mobile has a plan to help offset the huge upfront cost for expensive devices such as the iPhone 5. Legere has hinted that T-Mobile will sell the iPhone for $99 upfront and in charge subscribers $15 - $20 a month in payments over the following 20 months.

"If you can stand sticking with an older phone for 3 or 4 years you can save significantly."

And if you can't, drool over the whateverphone version N+1, or just have buyer's regret, someone else will be happy to pick up your used phone and help you offset the cost of your next phone.

(Conversely, people who don't need/want the latest thing will be able to buy a used whateverphone and roll it into a no-contract plan, which is very sensible in the same way buying lightly used cars is a great way to save $).

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